Blue Jays Reveal Lineup as They Look to Avoid Sweep in Texas
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The Toronto Blue Jays have fallen three games back in the American League Wild Card race after losing for the sixth consecutive time this season against the Texas Rangers on Saturday in Arlington, by a score of 6-2, and this Sunday they will look to avoid the sweep in the final game of the series.
Dylan Cease and José Soriano have not been able to stop the Rangers, but the Blue Jays’ defense has failed in the first two games and, in both cases, it has cost them. On Friday, five of the seven runs that Texas scored were unearned—three of them against Cease, who had his shortest start of the season—and on Saturday, a throwing error by shortstop Andrés Giménez also resulted in another unearned run in the two-run rally of the second inning.
Toronto fell to 76-79 on the season, 36-41 on the road and now play .500 (15-15) against AL West opponents (4-2 vs. Athletics, 3-3 vs. Houston Astros, 4-2 vs. Los Angeles Angels, 4-2 vs. Seattle Mariners, 0-6 vs. Texas Rangers).
Before losing for the second consecutive day on Saturday in Texas, Toronto had won 12 of its last 21 games, 22 of its last 38 and 30 of its last 52. Its .577 winning percentage since July 23 (30-22) is the fourth-best in the American League during that span, behind only the Rays (.654), Yankees (.627) and Red Sox (.604).
Spencer Miles has the challenge of stopping the Rangers
Miles is 6-2, with a 2.65 ERA, and has allowed 51.2 GB%, one of the key points in his dominance without being a pitcher with a high strikeout rate. Among American League rookies (minimum 350 batters faced), he ranks 1st in FIP (2.74), 1st in average exit velocity (86.8 MPH), 1st in opponents’ wOBA (.255), 1st in opponents’ OPS (.571), 2nd in ERA (2.65), 2nd in ground-ball percentage (51.2%), 2nd in walk percentage (6.5%), 3rd in WHIP (1.09) and 3rd in hard-hit percentage (34.5%).
He has not allowed a run in his last 14 appearances, accumulating 17.0 scoreless innings, with a WHIP of 0.94 and an opponents’ batting average of .194. In his 40 appearances as a reliever this season, he has a 1.61 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, an opponents’ batting average of .197 and a strikeout percentage of 25.3%. His ground-ball percentage of 51.2% is the 6th-highest in the American League among pitchers with a minimum of 350 batters faced.
Starting lineup for Game 3 against the Rangers
1. CF — Brett Bateman
2. 1B — Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
3. RF — Nathan Lukes
4. 3B — Kazuma Okamoto
5. DH — Sean Keys
6. LF — Josh Smith
7. SS — Andrés Giménez
8. C — Brandon Valenzuela
9. 2B — Ernie Clement
The power of Okamoto
The Blue Jays have gone 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and continue to not produce enough over the last week. They will need their main hitters, especially Kazuma Okamoto, the man who has guided the power in the lineup with 33 home runs and 88 RBIs.
Okamoto reached base twice on Friday and went 1-for-4 on Saturday, hitting an infield single in the seventh inning. The hit was his 128th of the year, surpassing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (126 hits in 2019) to take fifth place on the list of hits by a rookie in a season in franchise history (4th: Damaso Garcia — 151 in 1980).
In his last 33 games (since August 9), he is batting .274/.358/.581, with nine doubles, nine home runs, 18 RBIs, 19 runs scored, 16 walks and an OPS of .939.
Among qualified American League rookies, he ranks first in home runs (33), first in RBIs (88), first in total bases (250), second in SLG (.463), second in extra-base hits (57), second in runs scored (79), third in hits (127), fourth in OPS (.774) and fifth in doubles (24), before tonight’s game.
The bullpen will be key in the bullpen game
Since the beginning of August, the Blue Jays’ bullpen ranks second in the American League in ERA (3.33), fourth in wOBA (.294), third in average exit velocity (87.5 MPH), sixth in opponents’ batting average (.228), seventh in hard-hit percentage (36.2%) and ninth in WHIP (1.35). Mason Fluharty currently leads the Major Leagues in appearances this season (79), while Braydon Fisher ranks fourth (74).
Among MLB pitchers this season (minimum 250 batters faced), Louis Varland leads in ERA (1.30), while Tyler Rogers ranks third (1.73). Varland has recorded a fWAR of 3.0 this season, the highest among any American League reliever and the sixth-highest for a Blue Jays reliever in a single season.
The last Blue Jays reliever with a fWAR of at least 3.0 in a season was Duane Ward in 1991 (4.1). Varland’s 34 saves this season are tied for third in the American League.
With one more save, he will become the eighth player in team history with 35 or more saves in a single season (the last: Jordan Romano — 36 in 2023).
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Yirsandy is a baseball writer specializing in MLB coverage with experience across multiple teams and storylines. He currently writes for Diamond Centric, where he covers the New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Kansas City Royals. My work focuses on game coverage, player analysis, and storytelling that connects performance with context. My Substack has also been an important part of my writing development, where I’ve built much of my baseball coverage and storytelling voice over time. I’m passionate about combining reporting, research, and thoughtful analysis to produce engaging baseball content for readers.
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